The Phillips Curve during the Pandemic: Bringing Regional Data to Bear

Higgins, Patrick C.

doi:10.29338/ph2021-11

Journal Article

The Phillips Curve during the Pandemic: Bringing Regional Data to Bear

Abstract: The Phillips curve appears to have held up well at the regional level during the COVID-19 era. Areas of the country that took relatively large hits to their unemployment rate and employment-population ratio during the pandemic have had lower inflation, on average, than areas that took relatively small hits. And, just as prior to the pandemic, the inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment continues to be statistically stronger for the prices of services than of goods.

Keywords: inflation; unemployment; labor markets; Phillips curve; regional data; panel data;

JEL Classification: C23; E31; E32;

https://doi.org/10.29338/ph2021-11